PLDT to revive landline business via TelPad

To revitalize its landline business, network giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) will bundle new tablet computers with handsets and broadband service starting this month. The potential market for its new service and TelPad, a seven-inch tablet computer, is more than 10 million, the company said in a disclosure Monday with the Philippine Stock Exchange. “We've received numerous inquiries. Customers are making reservations for the service, which will be implemented in January," said PLDT senior vice-president Eric Alberto. “People are talking about it in blogs and social networks. We have not had this much excitement in a landline service for many years," Alberto added. The unit includes a handset as charging dock for the application-rich TelPad. Subscribers can use either the handset or the portable tablet to make and receive calls and access over 100,000 online applications on top of the unlimited broadband service. TelPad is powered by Android, an operating system developed by Silicon Valley giant Google. Through TelPad, PLDT aims to win new digital subscriber line or DSL subscribers and get existing ones to go for an upgrade. It starts at Plan 1849 (P1,849) with a 1-megabit-per-second broadband connection and landline service. There are close to 3.5 million wired and wireless broadband connections, with PLDT and subsidiary Smart having 61-percent market share. PLDT expects to increase that share after the product is released this month. — VS, GMANews.TV